


Rabbits are not what they seem to be

by Aisjustrunning



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Animal Transformation, Fluff, M/M, Madison - Freeform, Magic, cup magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 01:31:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6779800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aisjustrunning/pseuds/Aisjustrunning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Bitty opened the door, there was a rabbit looking at him.</p><p>He rubbed his eyes, trying to chase away the sleep-induced hallucination. He blinked too, figuring it'd go away, but when he opened his eyes again, the rabbit was still there, looking at him with big blue eyes. An actual rabbit, a black fluffy ball with long floppy ears.</p><p>Or: A story of how the Stanley Cup is magic and grants wishes in the weirdest ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rabbits are not what they seem to be

**Author's Note:**

> [Dynah](http://ibakesouffles.tumblr.com/) and I have been talking about Jack turning into a rabbit for months, because it has most of our favourite things combined (Zimbits, magic and rodents). Then a [ really cute Football RPF story](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3540953) inspired me to finally write fic with the idea. Title is from Welcome to Night Vale.
> 
> Thanks [Christina](http://archiveofourown.org/users/greenleavesnever) for the beta. Any remaining mistakes are completely my own. Dynah translated sentences into French for me (you can find them in English in the end notes)
> 
> Check, Please! belongs to Ngozi, I claim no ownership and I'm not making any money with this.
> 
> By the way, I made the Habs the winners of the 2015 Stanley Cup because of plot and because anyway we don't know who wins it in-universe so why not them, let the poor guys have something.

**July 2015**

Jack was getting a bit tired of this Cup party. The Canadiens were celebrating their first Cup in over 20 years and there were plenty of Habs, current and former. Some of the Canadiens roster had already left for their countries, but there were several players, people from management, friends and family. He thought it was somebody's Cup day, but he couldn't remember whose; he had been introduced to too many people today.

Jack had enjoyed catching up with some of his dad's friends and getting to know some new people he would probably be going to see at the other side of the ice during the season, but it had been hours and he was exhausted. He would like to go home and maybe skype with Bitty before bed.

He was getting ready to go say goodbye when his phone buzzed.

_**Eric Bittle** _

_I wish you were here._

Jack was about to answer, but his dad's voice calling him froze his finger.

“ _Jac_ _k!_ _Viens par ici,_ _Jack!_ _Qu'on puisse prendre une photo avec la Coupe, juste nous_ _trois!_ ” Jack resisted the urge to answer quickly and turned to where his father was calling. He and mom were by the Cup, waiting for him.

Jack smiled. “ _On en a déjà pas mal, eh?_ ” he joked. However, to be honest, he felt in awe, faced with the Cup. He hadn't earned it yet. He approached his family anyway, just taking a picture with it couldn't do any harm.

“And more we'll have when you win your own cup,” his mother answered, as if reading his mind. “But my favorite one will always be the one with you pooping.”

“Mom. Please, don't.” Jack didn't need a reminder of all his embarrassing baby pictures. “Besides, don't jinx it. Knock on wood right now.”

Alicia smiled, but complied and knocked on the table where the Stanley Cup was waiting for them to take a picture. It was a pretty, the Cup.

“ _Allez, Jack. Là, entre maman et moi._ ” His father motioned for him to join them behind the Cup, and Jack made his way there. God, he really wished he were with Bitty now. He smiled for the flashes.

They stayed by the Cup for a while; Bob telling stories of people whose names were in it, Cup parties, Games 7. Jack couldn't keep his eyes from the surname Zimmermann, engraved several times on the trophy. He traced it with his fingers absentmindedly, almost brushing the metal but not quite, and felt a pang of fear. What if he never got to put his name there? What if he was not good enough?

He wished he could share all this with Bits, right now. He wished he could take Bits to these kinds of events, as his date, and hug and kiss Bits all the time, without worrying who may see. He shook his head; he was too tired, and he didn't want to ruin this for his parents. He collected himself, smiled and said his goodbyes.

He started feeling dizzy on his way to the door. The bathroom was close, so he decided to try and splash some water on his face.

He didn't make it past the bathroom door before everything turned black.

\-----

When Bitty opened the door, there was a rabbit looking at him.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to chase away the sleep-induced hallucination. He blinked too, figuring it'd go away, but when he opened his eyes again, the rabbit was still there, looking at him with big blue eyes. An actual rabbit, a black fluffy ball with long floppy ears. Clearly a domestic pet, not a wild rabbit. Bitty's mind was less foggy now, so he was able to react to the fact that there was a living rabbit at the corridor of his house.

“Oh goodness, how did you get in here, honey?” Bitty picked up the rabbit with both hands and held it against his chest. He could feel the fast beat of the animal's heart. “You must be scared. Don't worry, I won't do you any harm. Let's see if we can get you something to eat.”

He went downstairs to the empty kitchen. It was bigger than the Haus kitchen, but it looked smaller because of the bags with food covering almost every surface, left there after he had gone with Mother to buy everything they needed for the party. It was the 4 th  of July tomorrow, and there was a lot of food to prepare, even if it was going to be just the three of them. There was also a mug of lukewarm coffee, probably left there for him by Mother.

He left the rabbit on the only counter that had some room and leaned in a bit to talk to it.

“Stay here while I find something you may like, ok?”

Bitty picked up his phone from his pyjama pants and checked it before going to the fridge. No new messages. The last one in his text conversation with Jack was still his text from last night.

_I wish you were here._

**Seen.**

He sighed and turned to the fridge, opening the door not sure of what he was looking for. Rabbits liked carrots, didn't they? They had to have some carrots here, he was sure.

“Oh, here they are.” He picked up a carrot and washed it, just in case. When he turned to give the carrot to the rabbit, he found the bunny with a leg on a bag, making a mess of the blueberries that were inside.

“No! Stop that! What did you do that for?” He picked up the rabbit and looked at the mess. It wasn't exactly a _mess_ _:_ the blueberries were in line, only some of them crushed, and he had to be imagining things, because some of them seemed to be forming a J. He was obsessing. Jack probably had a very good reason not to have texted him back and blueberries didn't just form Js. He tried cleaning some of the squashed berries, but it was not easy to wipe the counter clean while holding a rabbit and a carrot, so he gave up pretty soon.

“Ok, first we deal with you,” he told the rabbit, unsuccessfully trying to sound admonishing; the rabbit was way too cute, looking at him with its blue eyes. It was hard to stay mad. “Then we clean the kitchen.”

He grabbed the coffee mug with the same hand he was holding the carrot with and headed back upstairs. When he was in his room, he left the coffee mug on his bedside table, the rabbit on his still unmade bed with the carrot and sat next to it with his laptop, ready to do some research.

While the laptop started, he checked his phone again. No new messages. He tried not to worry; Jack had been at a garden Cup party last night. He was probably still sleeping.

Once he had Google open, he was at a loss at what to do. Where should he begin? “Rabbit care” in general? “What do rabbits eat?” Maybe he should look up an animal shelter? He wasn't sure his parents were going to like the idea of a rabbit in the house and he couldn't take the rabbit to Samwell with him in August. Besides, the rabbit was clearly a pet; maybe one of his neighbors had lost it and was looking for it?

Maybe his followers could help. He took a picture of the rabbit while it sniffed the carrot and tweeted the photo.

_Found this baby this morning. Any help on how to care for a rabbit or how to find his family will be appreciated!_

He looked up at the rabbit then, to see whether it was done sniffing and it was eating the carrot, but the veggie lay abandoned on his bed and the animal was nowhere to be seen.

“Gosh, where are you now?” He looked around, but there was no sign of the rabbit. He checked under the bed, between the sheets, and nothing.

A noise at his back startled him, and he looked over his shoulder to find the source. The rabbit was… trying to open Bitty’s Samwell Hockey bag’s zip with its teeth.

“No! Stop! What are you doing?” He kneeled by the bag and tried picking up the rabbit, but it just wouldn't let go of the zipper, and Bitty didn't want to force it, in case he hurt the rabbit, but he didn't want his hockey bag to be damaged either.

This couldn't be normal rabbit behavior, but he didn't have time to dwell too much on that idea, because his phone started buzzing, so he gave up on trying to move the rabbit and checked it.

He had three Twitter notifications and a text from Alicia Zimmermann.

_Hi, Eric! Do you know where Jack is? He was gone this morning when we woke up and he hasn’t been answering his phone. Have you talked to him? We hope you’re fine! Call us if you know anything._

He tried calling Jack then, before texting Alicia back, but the phone rang and Jack didn't pick up either. There had to be a perfectly normal explanation for all this, but Bitty couldn't help worrying. With Jack’s history… Ok, no. Jack was fine, Bitty couldn't think like that. Jack had most likely lost his phone, or it got stolen, and he had gone to try and find it, or he was talking with the police. Or he may be training, or swimming... there were a thousand different possibilities.

He texted Alicia back apologizing for no knowing anything, but he also texted Shitty in case he knew anything, just to calm his nerves, and checked Twitter to see what his followers had to say about rabbit care.

There were 10 notifications now, but at least 7 of them were just comments on how cute the rabbit was. One follower commented on how blue its eyes were, and went as far as to mention that it was the same blue as Jack’s eyes, which Bitty would have to check later, but really, people had the weirdest ideas.

Two people suggested buying hay and stressed the importance of giving the rabbit water. One suggested taking it to the vet should be a priority, since it could be ill or have some problem. That sounded like a sensible thing to do, so Bitty decided on a trip to the vet.

While he changed out of his pyjamas, keeping an eye on the rabbit, which sat still on the hockey bag observing him, he got a thank you text from Alicia, then one from Shitty.

_No, brah, no idea, is sth wrong?_

_No, don’t worry,_ he texted back. He sent another text after thinking for a moment. _But let me know if you hear from him._

Jack still hadn't answered.

\-----

Taking the rabbit to the vet was easier said than done.

To begin with, the rabbit didn't want to move from the hockey bag. It took all of Bitty’s strength and patience to move it, and when he finally managed, he realized he didn't have anything to transport the rabbit, and it was probably not a good idea to carry it around the city, since it might get scared by a car and run away.

Bitty ended up calling a cab, holding the rabbit against his chest with a hand to stop it from leaving again while he tapped the number with the other. The rabbit was actually behaving really well right now, still in Bitty’s arms, burrowed against his chest, but one never knew when it would get nervous again.

It took a call to three different taxi companies before he found somebody willing to take him with an animal, but in the end he made it to the vet, and didn't have to wait too long before a young woman in a robe was studying the rabbit on a table.

“And you say you just found it in your home?” she asked Bitty while she looked the rabbit in the ears.

“Yes, it was in my corridor this morning. It doesn’t look like a wild rabbit, so I thought somebody may have lost it…”

“Well, yes, that’s a good assumption. It’s a Canadian plush lop and we don’t see a lot of them here. However, this little guy here is a bit special. You see his eyes? Blue is not a common color in this breed.”

Bitty looked intently at the rabbit’s eyes. They were indeed very blue, and he had to admit that the color did remind him of Jack’s eyes, but almost everything these days made him think of Jack, so that didn’t mean much.

“Is it a boy then?” Bitty asked. The vet nodded. He had thought of naming it Beyoncé, but he would have to rethink that now. “And, is it… is _he_ healthy?” Bitty asked.

“He’s perfectly fine.”

“What should I do now? Somebody may be looking for him.”

“You can hang posters, for instance, asking if somebody has lost a rabbit. You could put one here in the waiting room, if you want.”

“Oh, sure, I’ll do that. Thank you, ma’am.“ Bitty picked up the rabbit. “How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing at all, I barely looked at him. Just take care of him, and come back when you have those posters, sweetheart.”

“Thanks.”

He called the same taxi company and spent the drive home scratching the rabbit behind the ears, marvelling at how soft his fur was. The rabbit seemed to like it, but Bitty had to admit that rabbits weren’t the most expressive of animals, and he couldn’t be totally sure, but it was making a soft purr-like noise, so it seemed fine.

He went to his room after checking that his parents weren’t back yet, and decided to read a bit on rabbit care. He should make the posters, but for some reason he didn’t want to. He could keep the rabbit for a bit longer; it was too cute to give back. Just a bit longer.

He sat at his desk with his laptop and put the rabbit on the table. The bunny looked around, as if studying his surroundings, and then seemed to decide staying there was the best option, since it just flopped down on the side and lay down there.

Bitty chuckled to himself, took another picture with his phone (still no new messages) and started his research. He started looking up “rabbit flops on side”, to see whether that was normal behavior. The results were reassuring—it was a sign of a happy and content rabbit. He clicked through other pages with tips on rabbit care. Some of the information didn’t make sense if he thought of the way his rabbit behaved. They were supposed to be nervous, dislike being touched too much, nibble on everything… but this fluff ball hadn’t even nibbled on the carrot, which still lay abandoned on Bitty’s bed. The only similar thing he had done was biting Bitty’s hockey bag.

Bitty then looked up food. The carrot incident seemed to indicate that the traditional belief that rabbits loved carrots was a myth, so he checked to see what he could give to a bunny.

Pages suggested hay, lots of good quality hay. Some fruit, maybe, but not a lot. Dry food, easy to find in pet stores, and lots of water.

“Ok, honey, so you need water,” he told the rabbit, who was still lying down on the table and had barely moved, not even when Bitty petted it distractedly while reading. “And I haven’t eaten anything today! I didn’t even finish my coffee this morning. So we are going to go downstairs and pick something to eat and water, ok?”

The rabbit just opened his eyes and looked at him, sleepy. Bitty didn’t have it in him to move the animal, he looked too relaxed and happy, lying on his side, so he went downstairs on his own.

He cleaned up the mess the rabbit had made before with the berries while he thought of what to give to the rabbit. The page he had read said a lot of fruit wasn’t good, but some of it wouldn’t hurt, so he cut an apple in small pieces, filled a bowl with fresh water from the fridge and cut a slice of yesterday’s pie for himself.

When he got back to his room, he found the rabbit with a paw on the laptop.

“No! What are you doing!” he ran to the table, hands full with the cut apple, the bowl of water and the dish with pie. The rabbit startled, but didn’t move from where he was. Bitty went to the desk and looked to see if the rabbit had broken something.

Something had been typed in the search bar.

_iu am jhack_

Bitty read it out loud.

He dropped everything he was carrying.

Bitty looked at the rabbit, still on the table looking at him with those blue eyes. Those blue eyes that weren’t normal in that breed of rabbit. In _Canadian_ plush lops. His eyes went to the screen and then back to the rabbit.

“Y—you are Jack?,” he said, more a question than an statement. This was stupid, and he knew it, but he needed to be sure.

The rabbit nodded once. Rabbits didn’t _nod,_ that was ridiculous and yet … . The rabbit was moving his head up and down, as if it was … nodding. Goodness gracious.

“Is this some kind of joke?”

The rabbit shook his head. Shaking his head? Oh boy.

“Lord. God. Sweet Jesus.” Bitty took the rabbit—presumably, _impossibly_ : Jack—and raised it to his face to inspect it. The eyes were clearly Jack’s. Gosh. Was this real? “Oh God, this explain a lot. The blueberries, the fixation with my hockey bag... Jack, how did this happen?”

Jack shook his head again and struggled in Bitty’s arms, trying to get free to go to the laptop.

“Ok, ok, there you go,” Bitty said, releasing Jack on the desk. Jack went to the laptop and put his paws on the keyboard. It was bizarre to think of that rabbit as Jack, but unless this was an elaborate prank or some sort of hallucination, it was pretty clear that the rabbit was indeed Jack, or at least not a normal rabbit. For starters, the rabbit was currently struggling to type something in the search bar.

_I dint knpw_

Jack stopped for a second, as if to think.

_cup magic_

“Cup magic?” asked Bitty. “Is that... a thing?”

Jack types again. _dad tells storues_

“Right. So, you are telling me there are stories about the Stanley Cup... turning people into rabbits? That doesn't make a lot of sense.”

The rabbit—Jack, Bitty reminded himself—shook his head again and went back to the keyboard, looking as frustrated as a rabbit could be, trying to hit the right keys with his tiny paws and failing at it.

_otherthingd too_

“Ok. Fine. The Stanley Cup has magic and has turned you into a rabbit. And how do we fix it?” Now that he was beginning to accept that this was real, Bitty was panicking about the fact that his boyfriend was currently sitting on his desk at his house in Georgia _while being a rabbit_.

Jack shook his head again.

“And can we ask somebody?”

Jack started typing once again. _dad_

“Well, that's a good idea, Jack.” He smiled at the rabbit, starting to relax. “But first you and I are going to clean this mess and eat something. Pie. We need pie. I'll even let you have pie, I think.” He took Jack and put it on the floor, kneeling to pick up the broken dish and the rest of the food.

When he was done, he opened the door to go downstairs and Jack followed him, hopping down the stairs. Bitty hesitated once he was in the kitchen and cutting two slices of pie, Jack waiting patiently on the table. Bitty wasn't sure if he could give pie to a rabbit, but that wasn't an actual rabbit. That was Jack. And Jack probably needed pie to deal with this bizarre situation. Bitty sure needed it.

Bitty put a plate with a slice of blueberry pie in front of Jack, who took a small bite, careful, as if trying to figure out how to actually eat it, which was probably the case, since he couldn't have been a rabbit for too long. Bitty watched Jack munch like that while eating his own slice of pie. It was adorable. He had floppy ears and lots of black fur. Besides, he was now eating the slice of pie with confidence, obviously enjoying it, which was no only cute, but also made Bitty proud. His pies should be appreciated and eaten to the last crumb, even by rabbits.

That didn't take long and soon Bitty was carrying Jack back to his room to call Jack's parents and see if they knew something. Jack had said that his dad had told him stories about Cup magic, and well, Bitty couldn't think of anyone better suited than Bad Bob Zimmermann to ask about things happening in the NHL. He knew after two years of comments such as “Well, I was talking to uncle Wayne” that Jack knew and had the phones of other NHLers who could be useful, but no way was Bitty going to phone any NHL legend he didn't know personally, not even if some of them might know a lot about this particular problem. Now that he thought about it, magic could be a good explanation for how Jaromír Jágr was still playing like that at his age ... .

Well, even if other people would know more about the issue, Jack's parents needed to know where Jack was first.

Bitty sat down on his bed, with Jack on his lap, and dialled Alicia's number. It hadn’t even finished ringing once when she picked up.

“Eric! Do you know something? Has he gotten in touch with you?” She sounded terribly distressed. Bitty felt horrible for not having told her the moment he’d found out Jack was there.

“Yes, Mrs. Zimmemann. He’s here with me. He seems… ok.” Bitty had no idea how to begin explaining that Jack wasn’t exactly “fine” without worrying Alicia too much.

“God. He's fine,” she sighed, relived. “Wait, he’s there with you? Where is “here”? Georgia? How did he get there? Can I talk to him?”

“Well, the thing is… he can’t talk right now.”

“Why not? Isn’t he fine? If you’re lying to me…”

“I’m not! I promise, Mrs. Zimmermann. Jack is mostly fine,” he made a pause. “There’s… a little issue, however.”

“Bitty… what’s wrong?”

“Is Mr. Zimmermann there?”

“Yes, he’s listening.”

“Good. Jack— Jack is currently a rabbit.”

“WHAT?” that was Bob’s voice, not Alicia’s.

“He’s a rabbit. He’s sitting on my lap. We think it’s Cup magic?”

Alicia gasped. Bob coughed.

“Well. Ok,” he said. “I’m relieved he’s not… somewhere else. He didn’t look great by the end of the party.”

“Yes, I was glad he decided to go home and rest,” Alicia chimed in.

“This is a problem,” Bob continued. Bitty started petting Jack’s head absentmindedly while he listened to Bob. “But nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“So, is Cup magic actually real? How does that work?” Bitty was really curious now. Magic was real! And he had proof of it on his lap.

“It is real, for sure. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen full teams being scratched for a game because they had woken up being 5 years old again. I’ve seen people who had to leave the ice because they were attracting pucks, like magnets. How do you think Wayne and I became close friends? We spent two full days in each other’s body! Literally!”

“And that was the most bizarre experience of my life, waking up to you looking at yourself in the mirror and screaming in panic, just to learn that it _wasn’t_ you. It was Wayne Greztky!”, Alicia chimed in.

“Well, I took it way better than Wayne did, that’s for sure. I’m still offended, and remind him from time to time of how horrified he was all through the thing.”

“Thank God it was the off-season.”

“True. Thank God for that.”

Bitty couldn't help chuckling, at which Jack, who couldn't hear his parents, looked up, curious.

“Wait a second.” He touched the screen a few times and put the phone on speaker. Jack curled up again and pushed his head a bit against Bitty's hands, as if demanding more petting. Bitty complied. “Now Jack can hear you, too. So. Mmm. Why does it happen?”

“Some people say that what the Cup does is grant wishes, in unexpected ways, but nobody is one hundred percent sure,” Bob explained. “The NHL has a group of people looking into it, and most teams have their own too, but none has given definitive results.”

“So nobody really knows how to fix it, either,” Alicia said. “For Bob and Wayne it just... stopped. Sometimes it takes a specific action, doesn’t it, dear?”

“Yes. It could be something you want, related to the particular wish, or something else completely. Has Jack said anything about how it happened or what he was thinking?”

“No really. Communicating isn't easy. He mostly tries typing on my laptop...”

“Ok, well, ask him.” Bob said. “We'll go and ask some questions. Maybe somebody knows something we don't. Keep us informed, ok?”

“Will do. Thanks.”

“Thank you for taking care of our son,” Alicia added. There was a pause. “Could you... could you please send us a pic of Jack?”

“Sure. In a moment. Talk later!”

Bitty hung up, and sent Alicia the same photo he had tweeted before picking Jack up from his lap and standing up to go to the desk.

“Ok, sweetheart, you're going to have to write again.”

Jack nodded.

“What happened exactly?” Bitty asked, opening a Word file.

Jack started typing, slowly, trying to hit the right key every time and getting better at it.

_we were t party w hsbs and cup thwn i woke up here and evetything was big and i was small_

“And what were you doing? Did something specific happen?”

_no_

Jack stopped and looked at Bitty, then went back to typing.

_i just wished i could stop worrying and were with you and we could hug_

Another pause.

_and kiss_

“Oh. Ok. I can't say I haven't been thinking of you. But you're a rabbit, sweetheart. This is weird.”

Hugging couldn't be the answer either; he had been hugging Jack basically the whole day. And kissing... This really was weird. But well, if it helped change Jack back... Bitty couldn't believe he was finally spending some time with his boyfriend, after over a month of not seeing each other in person, after _that kiss_ , and said boyfriend had turned himself into a rabbit. It was not fair.

Bitty looked at Jack who was just staring back at him, somehow managing to make his rabbit face look a bit sheepish. Bitty couldn’t blame him for wanting to be together, but the Cup had a weird sense of humor for granting a wish like this. Bitty shook his head. Now he was thinking of a piece of metal as a conscious entity with a sense of humor... well, admittedly, that wasn't weirder than his boyfriend _being an actual bunny_. There was a puck bunny joke hidden there, somewhere, but his nerves were too frayed to come up with one right now.

A kiss... If this could work, he had to try. It worked in fairytales, after all.

“Ok, honey. We are going to try something. Stay still.”

He picked Jack up from the desk, closed his eyes, and kissed him in what would roughly be a rabbit's cheek.

Nothing happened.

He kissed Jack's nose.

Jack started squirming in Bitty's hands, so he let him jump down to the floor. Bitty barely blinked and suddenly, Jack was in front of him, in human form, fully clothed, as if coming from a trip, travel bag included.

“Jack,” Bitty cried, moving towards him and throwing himself into Jack's arms. Jack caught him, dropping the bag in the process and kissing Bitty on the mouth, holding Bitty's butt with both hands while Bitty wrapped his legs around Jack's waist.

Bitty couldn't believe Jack was actually here, with him, in his real body, in Georgia. They had talked often since graduation, but a hundred Skype conversations couldn't compare to the feeling of Jack's lips on his, Jack's on him, Jack's hair under Bitty's own hands.

Jack’s mouth felt familiar, the memory bright in his mind even after tasting it only once, all those months ago. Jack’s body under him, walking them backwards towards the bed, felt familiar too, in a different way. Familiar after all those checking practices, familiar as a body Bitty had hugged on and off the ice, in good and in bad moments.

It felt unfamiliar too, when Jack sat on the bed, Bitty on his lap, and Bitty put his hands inside Jack’s shirt, touching the muscles underneath, something unknown to discover, as new as something could be that Bitty had tried very hard not to look at in a locker room, often unsuccessfully.

They were still kissing, hadn’t really parted for more than brief intakes of air since they had started and Bitty was starting to feel dizzy with it. He wasn’t able to think clearly, but there was something nagging at the back of his mind.

He broke the kiss. “Jack, sweetheart. Are you ok?”

Jack looked at him, confused. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, not five minutes ago you were a rabbit. Are you feeling fine? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Mhm, no really? It hasn’t been traumatic or anything, to be honest. Weird, for sure, but not too bad. It was nice, not worrying about anything for a while. Being warm and cared for. Besides, it brought me here, eh? With you.” He punctuated that with a kiss to Bitty’s nose.

Bitty giggled. “True. Can’t complain too much. Besides, you were the prettiest rabbit. I’m going to treasure that picture forever.”

Jack smirked. “Is that… some kind of kink I should know about, Bits?”

“Oh my Goodness,” Bitty looked at Jack’s smug face, horrified. “Jack Laurent Zimmermann don’t you dare even joke about that, especially not in front of Señor Bunny, he’s impressionable!”

“And how do you plan on shutting me up?”

It was Bitty’s turn to smirk. “I may have a couple of ideas.” He pushed at Jack's chest and Jack ended up on his back, with Bitty sitting on his stomach, his head next to where Señor Bunny was laying. Jack seemed a bit surprised, but his smile stayed on his face. Bitty knew Jack could get up and turn the tables without even batting an eye. He didn’t think Jack was too willing to move, though, so he made the most of this chance to keep exploring, unbuttoning Jack’s shirt and leaning to go for Jack’s mouth again, slow, caressing the skin he was uncovering and revelling in the fact that he had Jack on his bed, that this was real, this was his, theirs.

Touching Jack’s body was somewhat surreal, however. It was _tangible_ that he was a professional athlete. Bitty knew that he wasn’t in bad shape, himself, but the definition of Jack’s abs was something else. He drew patterns on Jack’s chest, never breaking the kiss, until he inadvertently grazed Jack’s right nipple and Jack moaned in his mouth.

Bitty startled at the sound. For the first time since he started kissing Jack, he realized where this was headed, and he had to admit he wasn’t totally sure how to proceed. He had been a closeted kid in Georgia during the time teenagers were supposed to be exploring their sexuality, so the chances to do that exploring with someone else had been null. And then in Samwell he had been too busy at first and too hung up on Jack to try with somebody else later.

Jack was looking at him, a slightly worried scowl in his face. “Are you ok?”

“Mmm, I’m not totally sure what am I doing here?”

Jack raised his hand and cupped Bitty’s cheek. Jack’s hand was cool against Bitty’s blushing face. “You’re doing great.”

Bitty blushed even more while Jack smiled at him. “We can stop if you want, ok?” Jack continued.

“No, I— I want to. Really. Nothing I want more right now.”

“Ok.” Jack’s smile turned brighter. “We can change positions, if you want. Let me do the work?”

Bitty considered his options, what he wanted to do. “I prefer staying here. I don’t want to stop touching you.” Bitty couldn’t believe he was actually voicing those thoughts, but it was easy, talking to Jack, he knew he didn’t need to keep anything to himself. “I like it when you make noise and I know I’m the one doing it.”

Jack didn’t answer, but moved his hand from Bitty’s face to the back of his neck and dragged him down for another kiss, pushing with his tongue against Bitty’s lips, silently asking for access. Bitty wanted to touch again, to explore and find every single spot in Jack’s body that would make him lose control, but Jack was faster, interrupting the kiss to speak.

“I can give you directions. And you tell me if you want to stop or there’s is something you don’t want to do, ok?” He was serious, looking at Bitty with an intensity he rarely showed off the ice, but also soft, caring, like during that first kiss. Bitty was so in love, it was ridiculous.

“Ok,” he whispered into Jack’s mouth.

Jack took Bitty’s hand and moved it to the space between their bodies, to where his own erection was tenting his pants. Bitty brushed the bulge and Jack’s soft moan encouraged him to take the initiative and go for the zip, undoing it quickly. He could see a wet spot beginning to form in Jack’s underwear.

“You don’t have to take them off all the way, just a bit,” Jack said.

Bitty followed the instruction and pulled down Jack’s pants and underwear at the same time, just enough to uncover Jack’s dick. It was a nice sight, better than a glimpse in a shower after a game, decidedly way better than porn. Bitty wrapped his hand tentatively around the base and squeezed lightly.

“There, yes” panted Jack. “A bit tighter.” Bitty complied and pumped a few times. He used the movement to spread the precome pooling at the head.

“ _Là. Bien._ ” Bitty didn’t know any French yet, but what with how breathless Jack sounded, it was enough for him to guess he was doing something right. Bitty kept the pumping motion going and looked up at Jack. He had his eyes closed, hair tousled. Bitty had to kiss him. Jack’s lips were already half parted, uttering what sounded like a mix between moans and French, so it was easy to just lean in and go for it without halting the job at hand.

The change in position brought by Bitty leaning in had other consequences as well, though, and Bitty was lying on Jack now, a hand between their bodies, suddenly very aware of the pressure in his own pants. Bitty didn’t want to stop touching Jack to take his own dick out, but Jack fixed that problem for him, undoing Bitty’s zipper with one hand and stroking Bitty’s dick through the fabric of his underwear. It was Bitty’s turn to moan in Jack’s mouth, while Jack freed Bitty’s dick. Jack rubbed the head with a thumb and Bitty lightly bit Jack’s bottom lip in response.

“Goodness—gracious,” he panted. “Do that again.”

It was frantic from there, jerking each other off with an urgency that hadn’t been there before; kisses turning messy, both hungry, English and French mixed with sounds that weren’t either.

Jack came first, Bitty following shortly after and collapsing on top of Jack. He didn’t have enough strength to get up, or move, to do anything other that resting his head on Jack’s chest and hearing the fast beat of Jack’s heart in his chest gradually slowing down, Jack’s clean hand tangled in his hair, the other one still trapped between them. He was starting to feel uncomfortable, a bit gross, but he didn’t want to move from that bed ever, as long as Jack wanted to stay there with him.

“Do you want me to move?” he asked, just in case, still with his eyes closed.

“No need. You’re small, I barely notice that you are there.” Jack’s voice was teasing, and Bitty raised his head to see the smile in Jack’s face.

“Ha ha. I’ll have you know, Mr. Zimmermann, that I am perfectly normal sized. We can’t all be giant hockey players.”

Jack laughed and Bitty felt the vibrations running through Jack’s chest. It was contagious.

“That was good, eh?” It wasn’t bragging, nor teasing. Jack was serious again. Bitty kissed his jaw, tender.

“Yes. It was.”

They fell silent again, but the need to clean up was starting to win over the wish to stay where he was, so Bitty stood up, but not before kissing Jack’s jawline again.

“We need to clean up before my parents come home,” he explained, when Jack tried stopping him from getting up.

“Uh. Ok” Jack stood up too. “Mhm. What are we going to tell your parents?”

“I have no idea, love. But first things first. Cleaning up. And oh my goodness you should call your parents.”

They washed up as well as they could in the bathroom. Bitty had to change his shirt and underwear, but Jack’s clothes were mostly just wrinkled, nothing that couldn’t be explained by a “day traveling”, so he called his parents and explained everything while Bitty changed. Bitty looked at him when he finished changing. He looked good. His hair, though…

“What are you looking at?” Jack asked, once he hung up the phone, after promising his mother that he was fine.

“Honey, your hair is a mess. Quick, do you have a cap in that bag?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t pack anything, I don’t know what’s in there.”

“Nice of the Cup, providing you with a travel bag,” Bitty said. He kneeled by the bag and started rummaging through clothes and a toilette bag. “These look like your normal clothes. Oh, here. A Falcs cap.”

At that moment they heard a noise downstairs, and Bitty’s mother calling. “Dicky! We’re home! Want to come help me with dinner?”

“Dicky?” mouthed Jack, grinning.

“Oh, shut your mouth,” said Bitty, without any actual heat. “Just put on the cap.”

Jack put it on. He still looked a bit dishevelled, but it was better. Bitty turned to the door. “Now, let’s go downstairs and see how we can explain to Mother and Coach the impromptu visit without telling them that the NHL has a magic problem, the Stanley Cup grants wishes in weird ways and my boyfriend has been a rabbit for most of the day.”

“Bits.”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I’m really glad I’m here.”

“I am really glad you’re here, too.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Translation of the French:  
> -Jack! Viens par ici, Jack! Qu'on puisse prendre une photo avec la Coupe, juste nous trois!: Jack! Come here, Jack! Let's take a pic with the Cup, the three of us!  
> -On en a déjà pas mal, eh?: We already have a few, eh?  
> -Allez, Jack. Là, entre maman et moi: Come on, Jack. There, between your mother and me.  
> -Là. Bien: There. Good.
> 
> Thanks for reading. Comments and kudos are love. Feel free to come talk to me on [tumblr ](http://ilovetextingandscones.tumblr.com) about hockey and boys kissing (especially hockey boys kissing). Oh, and rodents :)


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